Acer Aspire One 522 netbook: Unboxing and first look

The Acer Aspire One 522 is the first mini-laptop to ship in the US with an AMD C-50 dual core chip based on AMD’s new Fusion platform. At first glance, the computer looks like most other netbooks released in the last few years. But there are some subtle design changes including a new power button and a textured button under the touchpad. But it’s the new chipset that’s the show stopper here.

The AMD C-50 is a 1 GHz dual core chip with integrated AMD Radeon HD 6250 graphics. In terms of overall CPU performance, I expect the netbook to feel much like an Intel Atom-based system. The C-50 isn’t really designed to be a speed demon. It’s a low power chip aimed at offering decent battery life.

But the Radeon HD 6250 graphics should offer far better performance than the GMA 3150 graphics you get with most Intel Atom netbooks. The netbook can handle 1080p HD video decoding and has an HDMI output. The Acer Aspire One 522 also has a 1280 x 720 pixel HD display for viewing 720p videos. Most netbooks ship with lower resolution 1024 x 600 pixel screens… although a few have higher resolution 1366 x 768 pixel screens.

I’ll be testing the netbook over the next few days to see how it compares with other netbooks and mini-laptops with Intel and AMD chips. I’m particularly interested in seeing how it compares with netbooks with Atom N550 dual core chips and NVIDIA ION graphics like the Asus Eee PC 1015PN and the Acer Aspire One 521, an AMD-powered mini-laptop released last year, before the new AMD Fusion chips were available.

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It sounds very appealling. I like AMD computers (supports competition which improves products while reducing cost to customers). How much does it cost? Price could be the real selling point.

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about $330 on amazon, i have one i ill tell you its great as a companion to my desktop!

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I saw one in a store. The screen bezel is covered by a cheap plastic film, extra-shiny and fingerprint-y, that almost looks like it’s part of the packaging, to be removed — but it isn’t. The whole systems feels like a slab of cheap junk, unfortunately.

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Look exactly the same as my AspireOne 255 with Atom 550 dual cores and DDR3 Ram. I have the red colour which is the only one with anti glare coating on the LCD. I use it for browsing and reading ebook. Very good netbook!!!

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